Out Our Way: The Gospel according to Goliath: 'Well, DUH!'

Now a leper came up to Jesus and asked him for help, kneeling before him and saying, "If you want to you can cure me!" Jesus was struck by his faith and the greatness of the leper's, and immediately replied, "Of course I want to!" And with that he touched the leper's diseased body and the man was healed.   But Jesus told the man, "Do not talk about this but just go show yourself to the priest who, according to the Law of Moses can certify you are no longer a leper and are no longer to be shunned by society."

But the healed man was so excited he began telling everyone how Jesus had healed him and soon the crowds were so great Jesus could no longer freely move or preach or pray. Instead he had to leave the area and go into remote places, but even there the crowds found him.

- Author's translation: Mark 1:40–45

Out our way, a lot of folks are starting to move cattle. A few years back I was camping out at a friend's place in the Bear Paws and came across a pretty fair size herd over on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation being pushed down out of the Bear Paw Mountains into some loading pens along the highway. As I was trailering Goliath at the time, one of the riders rode up and asked if I would keep my eye out for some strays that they might have missed further up in the hills. "Just push 'em back out to the road, and we'll pick them up on our next sweep through the area," he said. 

Well, like most Hi-Line folks, I am always happy to help out a neighbor and told him I would do it if I spotted any pairs up my way.

As it happened I did spot some four pairs wandering around back in some of the heavy timber by my friend's place, and so I saddled up Goliath and headed out that way. Now Goliath was born in the Bear Paws and grew up working cows with his sisters and mom as a youngster - for like most working horses, he was raised to be more than a lawn decoration. I have worked cows before, but I am not an especially experienced hand. As those who have ridden with me know, I am OK riding drag, but flank or point take a tad of skill and experience I don't really have. But as I discovered, it was a different story for Goliath.

As a cow horse raised in the business, pushing cows is what Goliath lives for! I barely got up to the pairs before Goliath, without any direction from me, began to circle slowly behind these "fugitives" get them lined up in the right direction, and then slowly move them toward the road. These were pretty rangy cattle, a tad on the snuffy side and easily spooked, but he knew all that. Aggressive enough to keep them moving, but slow and gentle enough to keep them from panicking and running. When one pair began to drift off the path, he moved slowly but firmly without any command from me to keep them bunched up - all the way down to the road.  

Asking a cow horse to push cows is usually not something you have to beg. Unlike some horses, Goliath loves his bit and eagerly opens his mouth to take it when I saddle him up. Goliath loves to push cows and I barely swung up into the saddle before he was trotting over to where those strays were, ready and willing and loving the idea of working cows.

In today's text, the leper - a man shunned and feared and despised by most people - came to beg Jesus to help him. And Mark tells us Jesus was as eager to reach out and help this man, as Goliath is to push cows. It's what he came to do and is still doing to this day, given half a chance. The man knew Jesus could heal him, but wasn't sure Jesus would heal him. "If you want to, Sir - would you help me?" "Well, duh! Of course I want to! That's why I'm here!" 

My cowboy friends are sometimes amazed at how ignorant I am on some things - like being surprised to learn a cow horse delights in working cows. "Well, duh! He's a cow horse!" But then, some of them are just as surprised to learn Jesus Christ delights in loving, blessing and healing them. "Well, duh - God is love! Duh right back at ya!"

(John Bruington, Goliath and Scout can be reached at [email protected]. The book "Out Our Way: Theology Under Saddle" is available at Amazon.com, and weekly columns, cartoons, sermons and Bruin Town Tales for Kids are available at http://www.havrepres.org.)